Tears of the Jaguar

By: A. J. Hartley

Narrated by: Tanya Eby

Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

When a sudden rainstorm disrupts an archeological dig at a remote Mayan site, site supervisor Deborah Miller makes an astonishing discovery: a collection of rubies so precious that generations of men have died - and killed - to possess them. Some believe the jewels harbor occult power; others believe they are the key to the arms race; still others see merely their potential for profit. But Deborah doesn’t want power or money - she only wants the truth.

And so she sets out to trace the stones’ complex history across four centuries and two continents, from Mexico to northern England, where the rubies once played a harrowing role in the Lancashire witch trials of 1612. But she is not the only one obsessed with the jewels; close on her heels is a notorious arms dealer who will stop at nothing, not even murder, to claim the prize for himself.

©2012 A. J. Hartley (P)2012 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Don't bother

I tried to listen to this one. Despite the fact the premise was clearly a direct port of every archeologist trope you can imagine ported into the modern world. It had a series of issues, but the bulk of them boiled down to two things. In the first instance the aforementioned tropes don't always work in the modern world and the main characters ability to consistently do the stupid thing, for the sake of the story, rather than the logical thing wore thin pretty quickly. Additionally, as an added feature, the story appears to randomly switch from one first person perspective to the next, from paragraph to paragraph, without reason or warning. When you combine this with the constant whining and inner turmoil of each characters thoughts that have little to no bearing on the story, you have an amazingly excruciating experience. I made it half way through this one and gave up. I would suggest you avoid this one altogether.

Light Hearted unoriginal Adventure

What did you love best about Tears of the Jaguar?

I can't say I loved anything. The pace was pretty good and the storyline kept me mostly engaged although it felt like other stories of its type and not at all original. There was nothing to love.

What other book might you compare Tears of the Jaguar to and why?

The Nosferatu Scrolls.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

The accents were appalling which made any parts of the story not involving Americans hard to stomach. Couldn't figure out why the British MI5 agent sometimes sounded slightly Scottish, other times Irish and then slipped into Dick Van Dyke cockney from time to time. This was the same for the Lancaster accent, ARRRGGHHH! The Spanish accents were off too.

Any additional comments?

This is a light Adventure story, fairly well paced, but a bit too interwoven in places and lacking something, I went with the flow and was entertained though annoyed by the narrators accents. I was surprised not to like the main character more, in fact, there aren't any really strong or likeable characters in this book. Perhaps that's what is missing?

OK at a bargain price

Plot is farfetched with all the disparate elements involved. If you can suspend your disbelief it hangs together passably. Narrator's accents are distracting. For some reason she lisps on one of the Spanish names which is not consistent with Mexican prononciations and really bothered me.

I give up

This was on sale, and looked like a good $3.95 fun time. I quit. I thought at least it would get me through the weekend chores, but it is just too dumb. I give it 2 stars for effort.

A Decent Airport Reader lowered by Vocal Perf.

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

That's tricky. I knew what type of book I was getting into. Meaning that I got it on a Daily Deal and it seemed like a fun "leave your mind at the door" adventure. If the author comes up on sale again, I probably get him. Full price? Most likely not.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

Sure, the logic was strained and there were a lot of subplots going on at the same time. But the history was interesting and the pace kept moving. It's an airport reader less sophisticated than Crichton, Brown or Preston & Child.

Would you be willing to try another one of Tanya Eby’s performances?

Absolutely not. I'm sure that Ms. Eby's voice lends itself well to the YA and romance genre but she was out of her element in this story. Her delivery is remedial and juvenile, particularly reading the men. I could almost see her puffing her chest, tucking in her chin and squaring her arms as she delivered those lines. And her British.....oh boy. I've read other reviews where they said that they could not finish the book because of the performance and I can understand why. I paid for it, so I finished it. After a while, I just learned to accept her voice. But I think Samantha Power would have been a much better choice.

Could you see Tears of the Jaguar being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

If it was made into a movie, I would probably check it out, yeah. Mireille Enos type being the Deborah miller and Mae Whitman as the punky student.

Any additional comments?

If you can punch through the vocal performance, and I'm glad I did, it's a pretty fun book. It seems like it may be trying a bit too hard at times, but at least it's trying. C+ to B-

Disappointed

What did you like best about Tears of the Jaguar? What did you like least?

I found the Mayan archeological material and location interesting.

I found the diverse set of characters too complicated and scattered.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

The only time the plot became compelling was in the final chapters. The problem was that there were so many threads that the story skipped between that the momentum of the story never picked up.

What didn’t you like about Tanya Eby’s performance?

Sh was not good at accents of the various characters.

Could you see Tears of the Jaguar being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Not likely.

Entertainment beats Monotony

What did you love best about Tears of the Jaguar?

Although this book has gotten mixed to poor reviews, I liked it because it entertained. Oh, it's nothing earthshattering, nothing new, nothing that might not have been written before, BUT, when processing bushels of apples, it's nice to hear something like this to keep the monotony out of your work.
Maybe the premise is not original but again, light books, not "educational" ones are never original but agian, keeps away monotony and had all the soft thriller stuff going for it: Good guys, bad guys, bad guys who become good guys, good guys who are bad guys, selfishness, faux history, mystery and ancient civilizations as well as New and Old World crossovers.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, this one is easy to grab at any time and even if you miss a bit, it catches you up in several ways.

Any additional comments?

Despite what other reviewers have said, I wouldn't say it was terrible, the narration was good with the various accents and it is purely entertainment as so many books are.

Don't waste a credit

Any additional comments?

I bought this as a "deal of the day" and I regret the purchase. The plot is needlessly complicated and far fetched. The narrator is a slow speaker, combined with the glacial pace of the plot, I actually moved the narration speed on my ipod up to 2x to muscle through the end.

Jaguar tears

The story is only okay- characters are thin. The reader is very poor. Her emphasis is almost always wrong. She needs to listen to Davina Porter .

Mediocre

Minimal character building. Crazy plot. Unlikable characters. No plot buildup. Lots of Spanish mispronounciations...very distracting! Just wanted it to end. I finished it though. Not sure if I will read this author again.